As America reeled from the latest school violence incident — this one a Wednesday attack by an 18-year-old named Faisal Mohammad at the University of California, Merced — police have revealed a stunning manifesto left behind by the attacker that could classify the crime as an act of terrorism.

According to the Merced Sun-Star, Merced County Sheriff Vern Warnke confirmed that the two-page manifesto contained a number of references to Allah.

It also revealed that Mohammad, who was reportedly a Muslim, had planned to kill “a lot of people” before his plans were interrupted by a 31-year-old construction worker who heard screams from a classroom.

“He had a pretty elaborate idea of what he wanted to do,” Sheriff Warnke said.

Mohammad managed to stab four on the campus during the rampage before police killed him. The manifesto indicated he had planned to tie students to desks in order to lure police officers into the classrooms. Then, he had planned to steal an officer’s gun and kill even more people.

Thankfully, none of the victims were killed.

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The manifesto was recovered from Mohammad’s pocket during his autopsy, officials said. In spite of the numerous references to religion, Merced County officials were still loath to declare the crime an act of terrorism. Instead, they said the catalyst for the rampage was something far more mundane.

“We had an upset teenager that was upset over being kicked out of a study group” for being disruptive, Sheriff Warnke told reporters. “He was a teenager, he got mad and took it out this way.

“We don’t know what’s going to trigger and we don’t have a crystal ball … We don’t know. The human person is a very unpredictable being.”

It seems somewhat unbelievable that, with a manifesto that frequently referenced Allah, officials would almost instantaneously discredit terrorism, while at the same time pointing to his ejection from a study group as the cause.

Do you think that Mohammad’s attack was an act of terrorism? Do you believe the media and the government are glossing over the references to Islam in Mohammad’s manifesto? Let us know how you feel on our Facebook page or Twitter.